Elsewhere
by jayer
Summary: What goes on with the grownups when the kids are getting into mischief. Post There's No Place Like Homecoming
1. Chapter 1

"Hey Morris, is there any aspirin around here?"

"Too much excitement for you, Doc?" The desk clerk laughed as he pulled a bottle out of the desk. "How long has it been since you worked the ER?"

"I work the ER all the time."

"Yeah, doing consults. When was the last time you actually pulled a whole shift?"

"As THE attending, okay you've got me on that. It's been a while."

"Lay off him, Morris." Nurse Lewis laughed. It was an old joke, played out time and again like a radio skit. If ever there was a doctor that didn't avoid the ER it was Doctor McAndrew and they loved him for it.

"Got a 15 year old football player in 4. Took a hard tackle during the game, looks like a partial dislocation. You game?"

"After the birthday party with possible food poisoning, I'm so game."

"I'd think with your chemo kids you'd be used to puking patients."

"Jenny, the day I get used to seeing a kid vomiting his guts up is the day I have no soul left."

"Spoken like a true pediatrician."

"You know we have an opening in the department."

"And leave all this?"

Adam laughed. He totally understood the feeling. There was a certain thrill to the ER, a rush that surgery and even being an attending for the department lacked. Which is why he happily picked up shifts whenever needed. He often thought about switching back to the ER, but then he'd miss getting to be there for the kids all the way to the finish line. That was a bigger thrill. That was the reason he went for pediatrics, even perhaps why he stayed in med school to add oncology to the peds, the trauma surgery, why he even certified for Medivac flights. It wasn't that he wanted more checkmarks, he just wanted to be able to help any and every way he could. He needed to be able to help.

"Hey there," Adam consulted the chart, "Tyler. How's it going?"

"My arm really hurts."

"I bet." Adam smiled at the boy who was clearly holding back tears. "Where are his parents?" He asked Jenny over his shoulder.

"Away game. The parents will be here in about an hour."

"Okay Tyler. Here's the sitch. You know about joints right. From health class."

"Yeah."

"Good. So when you got hit, your arm popped out of the socket in your shoulder joint. We need to pop it back in place."

"Will I be able to play football?"

"Not for a while. You'll have to keep your arm in a sling until your doctors back at home say it's okay. Then you'll probably have to do some physical therapy to get your shoulder back into shape."

"So like the rest of the season?"

"Probably."

Tyler sighed and nodded. "Okay."

"I'm not going to lie, this is going to hurt. A lot." Adam said as he picked up the boy's arm.

"I'm cool."

"Of course you are." Adam gave the boy a wink. He nodded to the nurses. "Okay, on my count. One. Two. Three."

Tyler yelped with pain.

"You did real good, Tyler" Adam said as he carefully lowered the boy's arm. "Nurse James is going to take you for an X-ray to make sure your arm is back in the right place and then he'll take you to wait for your parents."

"Dr McAndrew." An orderly stuck his head in the room. "There's a nurse from upstairs waiting for you at the desk."

"Could you check on the birthday kids for me?"

"Sure." Jenny nodded.

"Let me know when Tyler's parents are here."

Brittany gave him a little wave as they approached the desk.

"She's cute."

"Jenny, she's half my age and I don't hook up with co-workers."

"Since when."

"Since the first and last time, which was a complete disaster." Adam scanned the white board over the desk to find there were no waiting cases. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

"Brittany, what's up?" It was odd seeing the younger nurse down in the ER. She wasn't trained for the work and he didn't recall having any patients to send upstairs.

"I just came to tell you that Jordi's fever finally broke." First day of his second cycle of chemo and Jordi had spiked a fever within a couple of hours and couldn't seem to shake it.

"That's great. But you could have just texted me."

"We tried. And found this." Brittany held out a cell phone. "It was under the desk."

"Crap, I didn't even notice I'd dropped it." Adam flipped the phone on.

"Don't worry, there weren't any other messages. Nice text tone."

"R2D2 is a classic."

"It's better than Kenji's. He gets a text and it's 'oh poop' "

"Strangely appropriate for a pediatric nurse."

"Yeah, but annoying when he gets 50 texts in a row."

Adam laughed. "Thanks for bringing this to me."

"I was on my way home so it wasn't—"

Brittany was cut off by the sound of sirens pulling into the ambulance bay. Adam ran over to meet the paramedics.

"a big deal." Brittany said to the now empty air.


	2. Chapter 2

"Give it to me." Adam ran over.

"Adam, I've got this." Doctor Cross arrived at the same time. "Daughter is in the second bus."

"On it." Adam reached the ambulance as the paramedics were opening the doors.

"Fourteen year old female. Was in the front passenger seat. Other car basically slammed right into her. They had to cut the door off to get to her it was so smashed in. She's been in and out."

They quickly transferred the girl to the trauma bed and Adam got his first look at her. To say she was a mess was an understatement. He began reeling off orders — blood, IVs, neck and spine X-rays — like a drill sergeant while Jenny and Tucker quickly cut off the girls clothes. He could see bruises on her chest and stomach where she slammed into the seatbelt.

"Call the OR and make sure they have a room ready. Call Ortho and tell them we have a compound fracture I'll need an assist with." Adam shook his head as he looked at the bone jutting out of the girls leg. "Possible pelvis fracture as well."

Adam saw the girls eyes were open. "Did we get a name?"

"Lucy."

An alarm went off in the neighboring room. "Jenny we need you."

Adam nodded to the nurse to go and assist.

"Hey Lucy." Adam smiled. "I'm Doctor McAndrew. You and your dad were in an accident and you're in the hospital. We're taking care of you both."

Lucy's eyes fluttered shut. An alarm sounded.

"BPs falling. Hard." Tucker reported.

"Get Jenny back in here."

Tucker glanced into the other room. "Not possible at the moment."

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of pink. He glanced over to see Brittany standing in the doorway. "Get in here."

"I, uh. I'm not." Brittany stuttered.

"Now Brittany." Adam barked. "Start another IV, open it wide." Adam quickly made an incision and began looking for the source of the bleeding in the girls abdomen.

"Okay, the IV is in."

"Good. I need a clean field to find the bleeder."

"I'm on it." Tucker jumped in.

"I see it. Clamp it."

"BPs still falling." Tucker glanced at the monitors.

"Give me a second look." Adam shook his head. "I don't see anything."

A second alarm went off.

"Oxygen's falling."

"Brittany, check her lungs."

Brittany nodded, carefully pulling the stethoscope from around Adam's neck. "There's no sound from the right."

Adam nodded. "okay I've got the bleeder. it's right under my fingers. Porter can you get to it."

Porter reached in carefully. "I've got it."

"Hold it steady." Adam quickly pulled his hands out. "Brittany I need a chest tube tray."

"which one?"

"Second from the right." Porter nodded at the counter.

Brittany carefully grabbed the tray and held it while Adam worked.

"Tube is in. Lets get her upstairs."

"What should I?" Brittany found herself yet again forgotten as Adam disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

"Good Morning, Dr McAndrews." Brittany chirped. "No tie today?"

"It was ruined last night by a vomiting birthday boy. I was in surgery all night, didn't make it home to get another one." Adam glanced at his clothes. "You don't think it's unprofessional looking, do you?"

"I wouldn't say unprofessional. Relaxed. You work with kids so that might be a good thing."

"Maybe with the kids but there's also their parents."

"So wear your white coat with them. It is the universal "Hey I'm a doctor" uniform."

"Good point." Adam laughed.

"So how is that girl? Lucy. Is she going to be okay?"

"She's fine. Fractured pelvis so she won't be walking for a while, maybe not ever. But she came through the surgery great."

"Good. I couldn't sleep last night." Brittany reached into a drawer and pulled out a paper bag. "So I made muffins."

"Muffins?"

"Yeah, it's kind of my thing. When I can't sleep, or I'm sad about something. You work, I bake." Brittany set the bag on the counter. "I put the rest in the doctor's lounge but I wanted to be sure you got some."

"Thank you." Adam opened the bag. "They look great. Just the thing for a cup of coffee. Let me buy you one. My thank you."

"For what?"

"For last night. You did really well."

"I did?"

"Yes Brittany you did. Especially for someone who really had no idea what she was doing."

"Thanks."

Adam's phone beeped. "That's the ICU, Lucy's awake. Raincheck on the coffee?"

"Sure."

A moment later, it hit Brittany that for the first time, they had actually finished a conversation, more or less, before the doctor ran off.

"What in the world are you grinning about?" Jackson set her bag down on the desk.

"It's a wonderful day, that's all."

"Whatever."

Brittany smiled even bigger, determined not to let anything dampen her mood. Not even Nurse Jackson.


End file.
